Never Again
by HogwartsApprentice
Summary: "Not again. TOOTHLESS! IT'S NOW OR NEVER!" as Hiccup said those words, he realised just how true they were. Last time, five years before, he had been lucky. He had escaped with his life. This time, he might not be so fortunate. ONESHOT.


**A/N This is just a short oneshot about what Hiccup might have been thinking during the final battle in HTTYD 2.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original characters or plot lines of the HTTYD movies or books.**

"Not again. TOOTHLESS! IT'S NOW OR NEVER!" Hiccup knew he sounded terrified as he said this. He _knew_ that the battle was probably going to end as well for him as the battle with the Red Death had five years ago. He just really hoped it wouldn't.

He desperately tried to block out the images that began to plague his mind as he knew the slightest slip in his concentration could mean his immediate death. His attempts, however, were fruitless, and the memories began to torment him.

 _He was fifteen again, just after he met Toothless, back in the battle at Dragon Island. He turned around in the saddle to see a sight he_ really _didn't want to see. Toothless's prosthetic tail fin was badly damaged, and he knew at that point it wasn't going to hold up for much longer._

 _"Stay with me buddy. We're good. Just a bit closer," he could actually_ feel _the Queen's gaze on them. "Hold, Toothless," he said as he heard the Red Death begin to gather gas in her mouth, preparing to fire._

 _"Now!"_

 _He turned around again to see Toothless shoot a plasma blast into the mouth of the Queen, starting a chain of explosions, and hopefully,_ hopefully _, ending the battle with the dragons._

 _He saw the Red Death fall as if in slow motion._

 _He saw the clubbed tail come up to meet him._

 _"No. No," he said in disbelief. The last thing he saw was the flaming inferno as it raged below, coming closer as he fell towards it._

 _He knew then that he might not be able to walk out of this one._

But not this time, he reminded himself. He wouldn't end up with _two_ fake legs. Toothless wouldn't let that happen. He could trust him. Or _could_ he? Toothless had nearly missed once before. Would he miss this time?

"Come on, bud!"

He shook himself out of his flashback, and suddenly he was pulling himself onto the Night Fury, clicking his prosthetic foot into place, yelling at Toothless – or was it at himself? – to _hold on_ and pulling them out of the dive that was about to send both of them crashing into the huge tail of the dying Alpha.

"Yeah! We did it!" But he knew the battle was far from over. He could see Drago, where he had fallen, reach for his weapon embedded in the ground near him.

 _Oh no you don't._ Hiccup thought as he threw his flaming sword, for once on target, between Dargo and his weapon, singing the man's hand. He suddenly felt lurch of fear as he realised he had just provided a very dangerous man with a very dangerous weapon, and hoped that the intense heat radiating off the sword would be enough to stop Drago from using it.

"Hold him there Toothless! It's all over now," he stated, internally begging the man to surrender so the battle would be over, and no more lives would be lost.

"Or is it?" He should have started running the moment he saw Drago's face twist into a lop-sided grin.

Hiccup turned, panic causing his stomach to lurch painfully, to see the Alpha, not dead, rising up before him.

Drago obviously intended to end him then and there. He wasted no time making deranged comments as Dagur would, or taking the chance to torment him one more time as anyone else might.

Hiccup hardly had time to react.

Toothless did.

Hiccup saw a black blur leaping towards him, curling protectively around him and shielding him from the impenetrable layer of ice now surrounding them.

 _'Do Night Fury's get cold?_ ' he wondered, the thought striking him as he realised just how cold _he_ was getting. Already, despite Toothless's best efforts, he could feel the cold getting to him, making him shiver violently. Whatever this was, it certainly wasn't normal ice.

"I'm s-s-sorry T-Toothless," he stuttered through chattering teeth. "I'm s-so sorry I g-got you in-into this, b-bud."

Toothless didn't give any sign he had heard. The ice was probably stopping him from moving at all. His scales did seem, however, to be gaining a blueish hue.

No. That couldn't be possible. The cold, or something in the ice, was making him see that.

But then he knew it was true, for the ice began to crack and with a huge jerk of Toothless's body, it seemed to explode away from them, freeing them from their icy restraints.

Hiccup should have known Toothless would have managed something like that. He had been told by his father that during the time after the battle with the Red Death, while he was still recovering, Toothless had become incredibly protective of his rider. That protectiveness had not waned over the years.

Never again would Toothless see his rider so small, so helpless.

 _Never again._

 **A/N Thank you so much for reading. Like most things I write, this was beta'd by Hermione'sDaughter, who can somehow decipher what I write late at night :D. Please tell me what you thought of this story in a review.**


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